Peter Navarro, Assistant to US President Donald Trump and the US Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, has told Fox News that Trump is planning on taking stronger action against China’s TikTok and WeChat applications amid rising tensions between the two nations.

“What the American people have to understand is all of the data that goes into those mobile apps that kids have so much fun with… goes right to servers in China, right to the Chinese military, the Chinese Communist Party,” Navarro said.

Last week Trump said that banning TikTok is “one of many” options the US could punish China for its response to COVID-19.

There are approximately 52 million TikTok users in the US, some 12 million more than there were before COVID-19 lockdowns.

There have been similar calls for TikTok to either be banned or come under more rigorous scrutiny in Australia too. The app is widely expected to be reviewed under the Australian Senate’s Foreign Interference through Social Media inquiry.